Author: CraigWilson

If you’re an existing Telkom DSL subscriber in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban or Port Elizabeth you might be able to try the operator’s fibre service for free for two months. That’s right, “Telkom”, “fibre” and “free” in the same sentence. We’re as surprised as you are. Even more exciting, you shouldn’t have to do anything to get it because Telkom should get in touch and let you know if you’re eligible. Telkom’s announced that it’s letting existing customers within its fibre footprint take its 10Mbit/s and 20Mbit/s fibre offerings for a spin for free. The trial offers starts tomorrow (Tuesday,…

One of the perks of being behind the curve is that, with the right solutions, you can leapfrog said curve entirely. BRCK’s Kio Kit is precisely that sort of solution. It’s a digital classroom in a hardy, water resistant and lockable travel case. It’s designed in Kenya with Africa’s unique challenges kept in mind from concept to final product, and that’s what makes it Stuff’s education gadget of the year for 2015. What are those challenges? Unreliable power and iffy internet connectivity, for starters. Which is why the Kio Kit can be charged from a single plug, lasts eight hours on…

Aside from its pricing, there’s one other big advantage video-streaming service ShowMax has over rival Netflix, and that’s the ability to store content offline. Oh, and House of Cards. Boy do we love Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright’s on-screen chemistry around Stuff HQ. Mmm. Sorry, right, what were we saying? Oh yeah, until now the offline functionality has only extended to Android devices. But no more! Apple users, start your binge-watching engines. The download option works in the same way for Android or iOS-powered devices — assuming you have enough space on your chosen device (and your R99/month ShowMax subscription is paid up)…

South Africa’s two largest mobile operators, Vodacom and MTN, will this week attend hearings led by parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications on whether or not so called “over-the-top” players like WhatsApp and Skype should be regulated. Which seems to be code for asking that the Committee allow said operators to charge for third-party services that offer messaging or calling services. That is, services that threaten the operators primary sources of revenue. The initial hearings take place tomorrow, but arguably shouldn’t be taking place at all. There’s no denying that instant messaging and voice-over-IP (VoIP) services have caused revenue from SMS and traditional voice…

We knew Afrihost was planning to enter the mobile market after it began selling data SIM cards and accompanying packages a couple of years ago below the going rate. Then, for added certainty a mobile play was coming, mobile operator MTN acquired the internet service provider in late 2014. Now the details of the mobile packages on offer have emerged with a campaign Afrihost is referring to as an opportunity for South African mobile users to “get gruntled”. In an email to existing Afrihost clients signed by CEO Gian Visser, the campaign takes a dig at existing mobile offerings (which includes…

Facebook-owned instant messaging service WhatsApp has scrapped the $1, one-time fee it supposedly used to charge some users in some parts of the world in an effort to get more people — particularly those in emerging and presumably cash-strapped markets — using the service, rather than rival services like WeChat, Line or Telegram Messenger. “[W]e’re happy to announce that WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees. For many years, we’ve asked some people to pay a fee for using WhatsApp after their first year. As we’ve grown, we’ve found that this approach hasn’t worked well,” reads a statement on the…

Before Netflix officially arrived in South Africa last week plenty of tech-savvy locals were already using the service by spoofing their IP addresses using VPN or proxy services. In other words, they were making it look like their IP address was in a supported region so the service would work. Now Netflix is looking to crack down on that sort of trickery. Even with Netflix now in 130 additional countries, licensing agreements mean certain content isn’t available in all regions. For example, even though House of Cards and Orange is the New Black are shows made by Netflix, they’re not currently…

The streaming wars have begun in earnest. Hurray! First ShowMax and Telkom slipped between the covers together to offer subscribers to Telkom’s Summer Unlimited packages zero-rated data for streaming. Then Netflix showed up in South Africa with little to no warning. And now ShowMax, the Naspers-owned video streaming service, has teamed up with another company in the Naspers stable — internet service provider MWeb — to try and win market share in the scramble for video-streaming supremacy. As always, though, it pays to read the fine print. You’ll need to commit to a 12-month contract with MWeb and ShowMax to…

Believe it or not there are, in fact, people out there who use Internet Explorer (IE) as their internet browser of choice. Which is why it’s important they (whoever they are) pay close attention to the following: Microsoft has stopped supporting versions 8, 9 and 10 of it’s much maligned browser. That’s not to say anyone running those versions of IE is going to suddenly find their browser doesn’t work, but rather that Microsoft — as of yesterday, 12 January 2016 — won’t be bothering with any further security updates to them. Which means anyone running IE 8, 9 or…

Rumours that circulated last year suggesting a local launch of video-streaming service Netflix was imminent have proven to be true, with the service launching in 130 new countries today, including South Africa (bringing the total to pretty much everywhere except China). Previously, a visit to the Netflix website from a South African phone, tablet or computer would return a message saying the service wasn’t yet available in the country. But no more. Now local netizens can sign up for a 30-day free trial and see how the service compares to the likes of Naspers’ ShowMax — which launched last year — without needing…